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Vision Therapy What Is Visual Training All About Ever
thought about how you see something? It is really a very complicated process
with several parts of the body working in close harmony. The eyes, moved by
muscles and working together, yet separately, are receivers of information
which, through nerves (our transmission lines), is passed into the brain's
computer for processing. The computer says, "Oh yes, I remember. That's a
car coming straight at me, and I also remember that I have to get us out of
the way ‑ fast! I must get information back to those eyes up front so
they can find the right direction to jump. Then, when I get that information
back, I can tell our legs what to do." SEEING
STARTS EARLY:
The whole system - the functioning of the two eyes and their ability to work
together; the nerves, the brain and the body start to become a team (whether
good or bad), even before birth. A
LEARNED ABILITY:
It's a learning process. The visual system actually LEARNS to see; LEARNS to
understand what is seen and LEARNS to pass that understanding along to some
other part of the body where it can help do a job. As with other systems in the
human body, the visual system sometimes learns it wrong and needs to be put on
the right track. Interestingly, much of the wrong learning probably happens
before six months of age. TEAM
EFFORT:
Remember a few things. First, we will be attacking a problem that has had
several years' head start. HAVE PATIENCE. Second, we are a three
way team - Doctor, and/or Visual
Therapist, patient, and the parents who are the home therapists - so our success
at working out the problem will reflect the team effort. It is especially
important to understand that next to the hard-working patient, the parents get
the toughest job. There are records to keep and, of course, it is the parent's
responsibility to help set and keep the good training schedule at home that is
absolutely essential if our work is to succeed. HOW
LONG? How
long will it take? Like anything else, time to correct depends a lot on the type
of problem. Sometimes it is a major overhaul - sometimes just a minor tune up.
If we find that every member of the visual system has gotten sidetracked -
eyes, nerves, brain and body - we are in for an overhaul. If it proves to be
just a case of helping the focusing mechanism, or developing some new habits, we
will be looking at the minor tune up. It is our objective to enhance these
visual systems to their best ability. Regardless, we can expect to see some
changes soon, so the usual
procedure is to work 8 weeks and
then sit down as a team and take inventory. At that time we make decisions about
further training. If the whole team agrees that we are heading in the right
direction, we will continue in 8 week blocks. REMEMBER:
Learning new skills or improving visual abilities is like learning a new
language, a musical instrument, or karate. The more you put into it, the more
you will benefit. When we suggest 1/2 hour of home activities per day, if you do
two or three times that amount, you will benefit by learning much faster. We
like to see our patients graduate quickly. SOMETHING
TO BE THANKFUL FOR:
Remember, just a generation ago children with visual problems - which we now
call learning disabilities - were called lazy, bad, or day dreamers, and no one
thought about how to help. It is good to know that now enlightened optometrists,
psychologists and educators can give every person an even break at learning -
through early detection, retraining and application. We are fortunate. See how to do Vision Therapy on your home computer.
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